202 



French Method of procuring Turpentine. 



and under this a small earthern jar, glazed on the inside and shaped 

 like a flower-pot, is placed. 



806. About once a week the cutting is renewed, by taking off a 



thin slice of wood a little deeper 

 and an inch or two higher up, 

 and this is renewed through the 

 warm season, and from year to 

 year. There are two or more of 

 these incisions on each tree, but 

 never wider than at first begun. 

 They are carried up till they are 

 twelve or fifteen feet high, but 

 there is always left a strip of 

 bark, at least as wide, between 

 them . Gradually the wood grow- 

 ing only under this bark, will close 

 over the incisions, generally leav- 

 ing a deep crevice to show its 

 place. This wood is again cut 

 into long, narrow bands as be- 

 fore, and so for a long period. 



807. The general growth of the 

 tree is checked, but the quality 

 of the wood improved by this process. It appears to hasten its 

 maturity, and it no doubt shortens its life ; but such trees are kept 

 in production from the age of twenty years till they are fifty or sixty 

 years old. It is, however, generally more profitable to cut them 

 when of good size for timber, to make room for those that are com- 

 ing up from self-seeding, and that will be more productive. 



808. As the incisions extend up, the earthern jars are hung 

 higher up, and they are emptied from time to time. The whitish 

 opaque incrustation is scraped off in the fall, and the jars are left 

 bottom upwards at the foot of the tree till spring. The work of 

 "resinage" is commonly done upon shares, and a division is made 

 between the proprietor and the "resineur," after the sales are made. 

 Up to a certain price, the division is equal, but at high rates the pro- 

 prietor receives the greater share of the profits. 



118. The Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster). 



